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In his education policy speech today, Gov. Eliot Spitzer said he will propose “what mayÂ beÂ the greatest reform agenda directly tied to the largest infusion of resources in our state’s history,” trying new funds to performance and accountability.

“The dynamic in education is about to change dramatically,” Spitzer said in his speech (as prepared for delivery). “With the reforms and accountability we will propose in our upcoming Executive Budget, and the resources we will commit to fully fund our schools over the next four years, there will be no more excuses for failure. The debate will no longer be about money, but about performance; the goal will no longer be adequacy but excellence; and the timetable will no longer be tomorrow but today.

And that is as it should be.”

Spitzer said he will be calling on school districts that are poised to receive at least $15 million in addition funding to enter an agreement with the state that he’s dubbed a “Contract for Excellence.”Â This agreement will govern how the new money is spent.

The details of which district gets what under Spitzer’s plan won’t be available until he makes his budget public Wednesday.

TheÂ method for determining education aid, a famously political and convoluted system that has long held districts “harmless,” ensuring they receive at least as much as they did the previous year, will be replaced with a needs-based “foundation fomula.” The needs, that is, “of our children,” Spitzer said, “not the needs of our politicians.”

Districts that receive more money must be able to demonstrate exactly whereÂ that moneyÂ is spent – school by school – and also how it’s working to produce expected outcomes.

Schools will be encouraged to decrease class sizes and increase either the school day or after-school programs as part of their reform efforts, Spitzer said. There will also be additional aid available for teacher training programs and to increase the pay of teachers whoÂ take onÂ ”hard-to-staff” schools or subjects like math, science and special ed.

On the holdingÂ adults accountable side of things, Spitzer said, districts that get more state aid will be expected to come up with a reform planÂ in consultation with parents, teachers and administrators. The districts must establish “real measures of improved performance” – how many more kids will graduate,Â do math and read at grade level etc.Â

Those that meet their goals will be rewarded with school-based performance incentives and statewide recognition. Those that do not will face “real consequences,” but will firstÂ be given more aid and assistance byÂ educators from the districts that did succeed.

And if that doesn’t work?

“We will demand an overhaul in their leadership,” Spitzer said. “That means new management. We will seek to have every districtÂ in the state sign contracts with their superintendents that require dismissal after substantial failure over multiple years. And for school boards that fail their communities year after year, we will seek their removal by the commissioner of education.”Â Â Â Â Â

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To that end, Spitzer is calling for annual “school leadership report cards,” that track the performance of principals and superintendents – not just teachers, kids and their grades.

Spitzer said his budget will include enough funding to pay for pre-K programs for the next four years and money with which the Board of Regents can create a tracking system for every public school student in the state.

On charter schools: Spitzer will proposeÂ raising the cap from 100 to 250, but will also call for providing transition aid to cities like Albany and Buffalo that already have a high percentage ofÂ students in charters. Â

The governor said he will call for the first significant increase in state funds for SED “in more than a decade, so that it will have the resources to meet the challenge ahead.”

He also plans to appoint a “Children’s Cabinet” – another first -Â that includes the regents,Â education commissioner, and headÂ of state agencies thatÂ in any way affect kids, to work together on education initiatives.

Spitzer formally announced his deputy secretary for education, Manuel Rivera, superintendent of the Rochester School District, who broke off a commitment toÂ Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to come and take a job with the new governor of New York. Â Â

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